Sunday July 20, 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the island’s division, the unsettling wail of the sirens in the early morning hours a stark reminder of the events of 1974 that brought about the current state of affairs.

Memorial services will be held across the government-controlled areas for those killed during the operation, dubbed Attila by Turkey.

The July 1974 invasion cost 3,000 lives and injured thousands of others, while 1,619 people were reported missing.
In the Turkish-occupied north meanwhile, various celebrations will be held to mark the anniversary.

The online version of the British Daily Mail hosts an extensive photo collection on the occasion of the 40-year anniversary since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on July 20, 1974.

Daily Mail presented photos of the ghost town of Famagusta and of refugees who bemoan realizing that they have lost their homes and their homeland.

The article, entitled ” From Coast Town to Ghost Town,” is focusing on Famagusta, the city which in the early 1970s “was a top tourist destination, with golden sands, high-rise hotels and shopping precincts, frequented by the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.”

“Today, the streets on the shoreline of Famagusta’s beach resort lie eerily silent, and have been for decades,” notes the author of the article presenting photos of abandoned places.

“Everything here has been frozen in time since 1974 – the year of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. These are the haunting scenes inside the city of Nicosia, which is now the only divided capital city in the world – separated by a UN ‘green line’ buffer zone,” notes the article. The Daily Mail published photos of Doros Partasides, which reflect the grief of the refugees and the abandonment in the occupied territories. Partasides has reported that he is pleased with his small contribution to his country through his photos but on the other hand the memories of 1974 still haunt him. “One photograph is a thousands words, for me a thousands photographs is one word-Cyprus,” he says.